化石揭示奇異爬行動物的奧祕

BBC News –A crocodile-sizedcreature that lived 242 million years ago was the first known vegetarian marinereptile, according to new fossil evidence.

BBC新聞 – 一種生活在2.42億年前鱷魚大小的生物，是已知最早的海洋爬行類食草動物，新的化石證據顯示。

Two specimens unearthed in China revealdetails of the animal's skull and how it fed.

在中國出土的兩個標本顯示了這種動物的顱骨和進食方式的細節。

Named Atopodentatus, scientists say itshammer-shaped skull helped it to feed on underwater plants.

科學家說，這種名爲須齒龍的動物有着錘形顱骨，可幫助它以水下植物爲食。

Only a handful of marine reptiles, livingor extinct, are known to be herbivores.

衆所周知只有一小部分現存或滅絕的海洋爬行動物是食草動物。

Dr Nick Fraser of National MuseumsScotland, who worked on the fossil, said it belongs in the pages of achildren's storybook by Dr Seuss, which depicts animals with a strange jumbleof features.

研究這個化石的蘇格蘭國家博物館的弗雷澤博士說，這種動物應該存在於瑟斯博士寫的兒童故事書中，這些書描繪的動物混雜了一堆奇怪的容貌特徵。

The reptile was "a bizarre, bizarreanimal", he explained. "We envisage it scraping algae and the likeoff rocks underwater. " "Herbivorous marine reptiles are very rare -this is the oldest record that we know of."

這是一種“奇形怪狀的爬行動物”，他解釋說。“我們認爲它刮下水底岩石上海藻之類的東西爲食。”“食草類海洋爬行動物非常罕見– 這是我們所知的最古老記錄。”

The first fossils of the creature werediscovered a few years ago. It was named Atopodentatus unicus, which is Latinfor "unique strangely toothed".

這種動物的第一個化石於幾年前發現，被命名爲獨特齒須龍，拉丁文意爲“獨特的長着奇怪牙齒的動物”。

New fossils unearthed in China's YunnanProvince by Chun Li of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology andPaleoanthropology in Beijing give a detailed picture of the animal's skull.

由北京“古脊椎動物與古人類研究所”的李春在雲南省出土的新化石，提供了獨特齒須龍顱骨的詳圖。

The discoveries, unveiled in the journal,Science Advances, show that rather than having a zipper-like snout aspreviously thought, the animal had a wide hammer-headed jaw filled with peg-likefront teeth.

公佈在《科學進展》上的這個發現，顯示了獨特齒須龍並沒有以前認爲的那樣有着像拉鍊一樣的口鼻部，而是有着長滿了釘子樣前牙的寬大的錘頭狀頜骨。

He said Atopodentatus helps tell a biggerstory about the world's largest mass extinction 252 million years ago.

他說，齒須龍有助於幫助講述更大的有關2.52億年前世界最大規模物種滅絕的故事。

It lived at a time when the Earth wasrecovering from the loss of 90% of all marine mammals. "The existence ofspecialised animals like Atopodentatus unicus shows us that life recovered anddiversified more quickly than previously thought," he said.

齒須龍生活的時期，是地球從損失了90%的海洋哺乳動物中恢復元氣的時期。“像獨特齒須龍這樣的特別動物的存在，向我們展示了生命恢復和變得多樣化比以前認爲的要快。”